Highly sophisticated machine tools are presently known, by which a variety of parts can be produced from a workpiece on a completely automated basis and without need for any manual change of tooling. Cutting may be accomplished mechanically in such machinery and/or by plasma or laser effects, and generally tooling changes and operation will be effected by a numerical control system, or the like. Machines of this nature are available from Trumpf America Inc., of Farmington, Conn.
The several parts produced by such automatic machine tools are typically delivered to a collection point, from which they are discharged for subsequent sorting. This is of course time-consuming, particularly when manual sorting operations are involved, and is undesirable from the standpoint of achieving maximum efficiency in and automation of the manufacturing operations.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel automatic machine tool installation for producing a variety of parts from a workpiece and for automatically sorting them, and a novel method for achieving those results.
It is also an object of the invention to provide such an installation wherein the sorting unit employed is of relatively simple and yet efficient design, and wherein a minimum amount of modification to the existing automatic machine tool is necessary to enable its use in combination with such a sorting unit.